Autor: SABio

Karen Siegel invitada a la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (Argentina) como Profesora Visitante

Karen Siegel invitada a la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (Argentina) como Profesora Visitante

Karen Siegel was invited by Juan Staricco and Mónica Buraschi to visit the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba in Argentina in March 2023 with funding by the programme for visiting professors of the Facultad de Ciencias Económicas.

During her stay she gave a public lecture on sustainability and bioeconomy governance in the global political economy and participated in an academic publishing workshop on public policy in biofuels, circular economy, sustainability in global value chains and other topics. She also met the members of the PICT research project which investigates the possibilities for a circular bioeconomy in different Argentinean provinces, Mónica Buraschi, Celina Amato, Sofia González and Florencia Peretti.

The Universidad Nacional de Córdoba has published more information, photos and an interview about the visit.

Seminario virtual con Tim Dorlach (University of Bayreuth) el 10 de mayo

Seminario virtual con Tim Dorlach (University of Bayreuth) el 10 de mayo

Pesticide Politics in the Global South: Sri Lanka’s 2015 Glyphosate Ban (Tim Dorlach and Sandya Gunasekara)

Tim Dorlach is a Junior Professor of Global Nutrition and Health Policy at the University of Bayreuth. He received his PhD in Political Science from Koç University in Istanbul in 2019. His research seeks to understand the political foundations of innovative public policies, especially in the areas of nutrition and health. Current research projects investigate mandatory nutrition labeling, pesticide regulation and school feeding programs, all with a focus on the Global South.

Please e-mail Karen.Siegel@uni-muenster.de if you would like to participate in the seminar

Seminario híbrido con Karen Siegel el 4 de mayo

Seminario híbrido con Karen Siegel el 4 de mayo

Alle möchten Nachhaltigkeit: aber was bedeutet das eigentlich?

Many different actors nowadays state their support for a sustainability transition. However, the concept of sustainability remains very broad and can be interpreted and implemented in many different ways. In this seminar Karen Siegel looks at different case studies from South America to examine how different actors define “sustainability” in relation to key bioeconomy sectors, notably agriculture and forestry. This uncovers important contestations and conflicts between actors with diverging interests, priorities and values which shape the interpretation of the concept of sustainability. What a potential sustainability transition looks like and which actors will benefit or not will be influenced by how such conflicts over the interpretation of sustainability play out.

The seminar will be in German and held in a hybrid format. More information can be found on the website of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research (ZIN) at the University of Münster: https://www.uni-muenster.de/Nachhaltigkeit/brotzeitkolloquium.html

Taller de áreas de investigación sobre bioeconomía en Uruguay

Taller de áreas de investigación sobre bioeconomía en Uruguay

En el marco del proyecto SABio a mediados de marzo se llevó a cabo en el Centro Universitario Regional (CENUR) Noreste, en la sede Tacuarembó de la Universidad de la República (UDELAR), un Taller de trabajo para discutir e intercambiar sobre proyectos de investigación sobre bioeconomía, forestación y sostenibilidad que se están realizando en Uruguay.

Con el objetivo de fortalecer los vínculos del Proyecto SABio con instituciones de investigación del Uruguay, enriquecer y discutir sobre los proyectos de investigación que está ejecutando el Proyecto SABio, así como para explorar futuras oportunidades de colaboración, en conjunto con la asesora científica del Proyecto, Lucía Pittaluga, se coordinó un taller de trabajo que reuniera a investigadores de la academia que estén trabajando sobre temas vinculados a la bioeconomía.

En ese sentido confluyeron investigadores de tres proyectos de investigación enfocados en estrategias de desarrollo regional basadas en la bioeconomía, en senderos de transición hacia la bioeconomía forestal en Uruguay y en procesos de integración de políticas ambientales en la política forestal uruguaya. Como resultado se presentó el contenido y avance a la fecha de los distintos proyectos, logrando así una fructífera y provechosa discusión.

Adicionalmente, aprovechando que el taller se realizó en una región donde la actividad forestal maderera es de suma relevancia, se realizaron visitas de campo asociadas a los proyectos de investigación mencionados. En este sentido, se visitó los alrededores de la tercera planta de celulosa del país, plantaciones comerciales de eucaliptus y pinos, así como un proyecto silvopastoril impulsado por un productor de Tacuarembó.

Se adjunta el programa del taller con los objetivos del mismo, detalles de los proyectos y los asistentes.

» programa del taller [.pdf]

Taller «La bioeconomía en América del Sur: lecciones desde las experiencias de Argentina, Brasil y Uruguay» en Buenos Aires

Taller «La bioeconomía en América del Sur: lecciones desde las experiencias de Argentina, Brasil y Uruguay» en Buenos Aires

El día 2 de marzo tuvo lugar el taller «La bioeconomía en América del Sur: lecciones desde las experiencias de Argentina, Brasil y Uruguay» en la sede de FLACSO Argentina. El taller, organizado por Melisa Deciancio (Universidad de Münster) contó con la presentación de parte de los hallazgos de investigación del Proyecto SABio y una mesa de discusión con expertos en bioeconomía.

Pablo Mac Clay (Universidad de Bonn) presentó el Policy Brief recientemente publicado, elaborado junto a Melisa Deciancio, “Ideas para un desarrollo sustentable de la Bioeconomía en Argentina”, con comentarios de Roberto Bisang (CONICET). Guilherme de Queiroz Stein (Universidad de Münster) presentó la ponencia «Socio-biodiversidad y bioeconomía: lecciones desde Brasil”, con comentarios de Juliana Peixoto (Red LATN/FLACSO) y Daniel Kefeli (Universidad de Münster) presentó su trabajo recientemente publicado “Integración de políticas ambientales en la política forestal de Uruguay bajo un conflicto latente”, con comentarios de Daniela Gomel (Fundación Vida Silvestre). La mesa fue moderada por Karen Siegel (Universidad de Münster).

La mesa de discusión posterior contó con los y las principales referentes de la bioeconomía en Argentina, tanto del sector público como de la academia, y se orientó a indagar sobre las principales oportunidades y desafíos de la bioeconomía en el país y la región

Taller presencial de presentación de hallazgos

Taller presencial de presentación de hallazgos

«La bioeconomía en América del Sur: lecciones desde las experiencias de Argentina, Brasil y Uruguay»

Jueves 2 de marzo, 10:00-12:00 hs.

Lugar: Aula 2 (PB), Sede Argentina Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales – FLACSO, Tucumán 1966, CABA

Evento abierto, con inscripción previa:

Organización: Melisa Deciancio (Universidad de Münster/FLACSO) y Karen Siegel (Universidad de Münster)

Contacto: Melisa Deciancio, mdeciancio@uni-muenster.de

La bioeconomía ha ido ganando cada vez más espacio en América Latina tanto como modelo productivo como estrategia de política pública. La amplia variedad y disponibilidad de recursos naturales con que cuenta la región, sumado a un desarrollo económico apoyado principalmente en la producción de materias primas y la disponibilidad de recursos humanos para la producción de conocimiento para la transformación de la biomasa, ha puesto de manifiesto el potencial para su desarrollo bioeconómico. Los países del Cono Sur vienen aplicando principios de la bioeconomía a diversos sectores como el agrícola y forestal con el objetivo de reducir la dependencia de los combustibles fósiles y lograr un suministro sostenible de bienes y servicios en las diversas cadenas de valor en las que participa. En esta empresa, el desarrollo biotecnológico y la valorización de recursos naturales que contemplen la amplia biodiversidad y variedad de biomas con los que cuenta la región, se vuelven preguntas centrales. Para ello se requieren políticas coordinadas, instituciones y marcos regulatorios que impulsen el desarrollo de la bioeconomía en los diversos sectores económicos de manera que sean sustentables económicamente, pero también en términos sociales y medioambientales. Los casos nacionales de Argentina, Brasil y Uruguay permiten abordar el desarrollo de la bioeconomía en la subregión, sus principales sectores y los desafíos en términos socio-ambientales como de diseño y elaboración de políticas. Estos casos nos permiten establecer también un punto de partida para abordar una cuestión menos explorada, como la posibilidad de coordinación regional para el impulso y regulación de la bioeconomía.

En este sentido, el taller se propone presentar casos específicos dentro de cada experiencia nacional de bioeconomía para luego indagar acerca de las posibilidades de coordinación regional, con las siguientes preguntas como disparadores:

  • ¿En qué medida el abordaje regional presenta beneficios o dificultades para el desarrollo de la bioeconomía? ¿La bioeconomía puede replicar problemas de integración económica regional del pasado, o bien puede resultar un factor acelerador?
  • ¿En qué medida la estructura productiva actual de los países del Cono Sur resulta propicia para el desarrollo de la bioeconomía y la posibilidad de insertarse regionalmente en cadenas de valor globales a través de ella? ¿Qué sectores se destacan (tanto por su capacidad productiva actual o por su potencialidad futura)?
  • ¿Cuáles son los principales desafíos sociales y ambientales que deben ser abordados a nivel regional al contemplar el impulso de la bioeconomía?
  • ¿Qué mecanismos de gobernanza (políticas de promoción, institucionales, regulatorios) son necesarios para el desarrollo de la bioeconomía a nivel regional? ¿Qué ámbitos institucionales regionales de coordinación resultan más propicios para este impulso? ¿Qué desarrollos institucionales son necesarios garantizar el aprovechamiento sostenible de los biomas compartidos a escala regional?

Participación en la Conferencia Anual FEWSUS 2022 «Circular Bioeconomy Systems for Urban-Rural Co-Prosperity» (Sistemas de bioeconomía circular para la coprosperidad urbano-rural)

Melisa Deciancio y Pablo Mc Clay participaron en la Conferencia Anual FEWSUS 2022, «Circular Bioeconomy Systems For Urban-Rural Co-Prosperity», organizada en Buenos Aires, del 30 de noviembre al 2 de diciembre de 2022. Melisa participó como keynote speaker con la presentación «El rol del Estado y las Políticas Públicas en el Desarrollo de la Bioeconomía en Argentina», y Pablo presentó su investigación sobre «Transformaciones de las Cadenas de Valor en la Transición hacia una Bioeconomía Sustentable» en el Taller «Gobernanza Sociedad-inteligente de la Bioeconomía Circular».

Seminario virtual «Redes de innovatión y agregación de valor local en las bioeconomías sudamericanas: alianzas público-privadas para una inserción sostenible en la economía global»

On November 23, 2022, SABio hosted a panel webinar, “Innovation networks and local value addition in South American bioeconomies: public-private alliances for a sustainable insertion into the global economy”, moderated and organized by SABio researcher, Dr. Melisa Deciancio (Uni Münster) with co-moderation from SABio researcher Pablo Mac Clay (Uni Bonn) and co-organized with support from SABio Research Group Leaders, Drs. Karen Siegel (Uni Münster) and Jorge Sellare (Uni Bonn).

Three panel experts from Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay shared examples, perspectives and highlighted the current realities of the Bioeconomy innovation ecosystems in their respective countries. Forty-five attendees from Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, the US, Germany, Ireland and Denmark tuned in to the event with simultaneous interpretation provided in English, Portuguese and Spanish.

Victoria Santos, head of Decarbonization at the Insituto Clima e Sociedade (iCS), highlighted that while Brazil is home to established industries with specialization in use of biomass and waste streams in biorefinery applications (Sugar, Pulp and Paper, and Oranges), the country’s immense biodiversity and other biobased production chains have been overlooked and under researched for value-added opportunities. Existing waste streams may provide opportunities for fiber, plant-based protein or biochemical applications. A critical hurdle to Brazil’s bioeconomic innovation ecosystem is a lack of funding for entrepreneurs and start-ups trying to prototype and pilot products. Victoria coined these product development stages as the Brazilian bioeconomy’s “Valley of Death” which must be addressed.

Isabel Bortagaray from Uruguay’s Universidad de la República, shared the experiences, successes and challenges resulting from two bioeconomic initiatives. Although these initiatives attained high levels of private sector involvement and public institutional research support, a lack of communication space and time for stakeholders to engage, communicate problems and share knowledge emerged as barriers to innovation. Moreover, narrow and sectoral focused understandings of the bioeconomy emerged as a common obstacle to Uruguay’s bioeconomic development. Changing perspectives to that of Bioeconomies (plural), which embrace multi-dimensional and complex connections of bioeconomic activities and aspects of sustainability, is a necessary paradigm shift for achieving innovation.

Rafael Anta, from the division of Competitivity, Technology and Innovation at the Interamerican Development Bank shared perspectives on bioeconomic innovation and development opportunities throughout Latin America (LATAM) and insertion in the global context. Foremost, bioeconomic policy must contend with factors at multiple levels. Biomass and infrastructure are local, regulation is national, R&D tends to be international and biomass trade is global. In terms of education throughout LATAM, an increased emphasis on bioprospecting in the life sciences as well as increased funding for bioprospecting activities are desperately needed. Furthermore, public policies with strategies are ineffective without funding that supports entrepreneurship and providing the tools that entrepreneurs need, such as biorefinery infrastructure, biological materials and reagents. Following the panel presentations, a robust Q&A session ensued where the panelists and audience members highlighted cross-cutting issues facing bioeconomic development in the three focus countries and more broadly throughout LATAM. Firstly, public policies must reflect the complexity and broad scope of all that is entailed in the bioeconomy and the multi-dimensionality of sustainability. Bioeconomy policies do not belong to one ministry, but rather in an inter-ministerial policy framework that incorporates specificities from the local, national to regional levels.  Secondly, funding is crucial, especially in the prototype and piloting stages of bio-based products. Without adequate funding and support for entrepreneurs at these stages, LATAM countries – including Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay – will miss out on their bioeconomic development potential.

The event was recorded and is available for viewing in English, Portuguese and Spanish.

SABio en el Día de la Sostenibilidad de la WWU “Campus Earth”

On October 20th, the University of Münster hosted the Sustainability Day “Campus Earth” for the first time. From now on this action day is planned to be an annual event at the University. The programme includes lectures, citizen dialogues, workshops and mobile laboratories to gain insights into the interdisciplinary research linked to a sustainability transformation. Within this framework, various WWU institutions, organisations and research groups presented themselves and their current projects to the public.

The SABio research group participated in this event by presenting their work during the day at the exhibition space and organizing an open discussion round on the topics of bioeconomy and sustainability. This World Café was organized together with the Brazil Centre, the Centre for Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research (ZIN) and the Institutes of Political Science and Landscape Ecology.

The event aimed to debate topics such as resource dependencies and the sustainability performance of bioeconomies in South America. More specifically, the World Café aimed to open a debate about problems and possible solutions of bio-based transformations in South America. The participants were invited to question their own roles and talk about international interconnections. To facilitate the exchange of the participants with various backgrounds, each participant had the opportunity to speak in their language of preference (German, English, Spanish or Portuguese). Still, in the end, everyone was able to communicate in English and only smaller translations had to be provided.

A total of 10-15 people not only of different languages but also of different age groups participated in the World Café. After a short introduction by Dr Karen Siegel (Head of the research group in political science at the University of Münster and ZIN member) and Prof. Tillmann Buttschardt (ZIN and Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster), the three early-career researchers of the SABio group in political science gave short inputs about their work.

The presentations opened three discussion rounds, focusing on current debates on bio-based transformations in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. The participants then discussed these questions at three different tables together with the researchers present and the results were captured on post-its. After the first round of discussion, the participants changed places so that new group constellations could be formed, which positively affected the discussions and the results achieved, as new perspectives and experiences could be shared.  Finally, the post-its were attached to flipcharts after each discussion round, creating a “result gallery“. After the event, participants were able to look at all the important keywords from the three discussion rounds and continue the debate informally.

In the first round, the participants discussed the broad concept of bioeconomies and talked about the opportunities and potential to foster sustainability, based on Dr Melisa Deciancio`s presentation and the case of Argentina. More specifically, concerns about the increase in monocultures and the use of pesticides were shared during the exchange of thoughts. This led to a debate regarding the role of international regulations and certifications which may present possible solutions, but not without challenges. Matching this topic, the participants were able to discuss the role of certifications, such as the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification, or other possible measures for more sustainability in the forestry sector during the second round. As a basis for this, Daniel Kefeli illustrated the sustainability challenges of the pulp industry and the associated forestry sector in Uruguay. The attendees highlighted the lack of monitoring mechanisms and transparency of the certification process regarding different private and public actors. Moreover, they criticized the high costs of certifications which compromises the accessibility of the labels. Finally, the last roundtable discussion was guided by Guilherme de Queiroz-Stein and focused on the concept of socio-biodiversity and case studies from Brazil. In particular, the participants talked about possible ways to ensure the inclusion and protection of indigenous people. They came up with possible solutions like land rights and financial compensations for affected populations. Furthermore, the responsibilities of the consumer, the local state, and the international organisation were discussed in that context. To close the event, Anja Grecko Lorenz, managing director of the WWU Brazil Centre, provided an overview of cooperation possibilities.


SABIO apoya el programa «Amazônia Bioeconomy Connections»

SABIO apoya el programa «Amazônia Bioeconomy Connections»

SABIO supports the program “Amazônia Bioeconomy Connections” a partnership for technology, innovations, and sustainability in the Amazon Rain Forest led by Brazilian Embassy in Berlin, Germany. Between August and October 2022, SABIO senior researcher Jan Börner was part of the committee that selected four Amazonian startups from an initial pool of 87 applicants. The selected initiatives will be offered support to identify and establish contact with potential German partners and the possibility to visit Germany. 

For more information see: https://www.bioeconomy-connections.com/en